SYDNEY: Dr Hugh McDermott MP is the latest elected official to join Federal Parliamentarians the Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, the Hon. Michael Sukkar MP and New South Wales Parliamentarian Tim James MP, in becoming a protection sponsor for one of the Armenian Political Prisoners currently detained in Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).
Dr McDermott, a former barrister and expert on international law, penned the letter addressed to Mr Vagif Jafarov, the Chargé d'affaires of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Canberra. In the letter, Mr McDermott described the trials as “farcical” and stated, “reports show that the Armenian political prisoners are being provided neither a fair trial nor fair legal representation…the prisoners are having their defences impeded deliberately by Azerbaijan’s prosecutors.”
Dr McDermott also addressed the concerns raised by international human rights lawyer, Mr Jared Genser detailing flagrant violations of international law, torture, and other human rights abuses, asserting that “these reports underscore a lack of transparency in Azerbaijan’s judicial system and is clearly part of a disturbing pattern of state-sanctioned anti-Armenian hatred.”
Dr McDermott who visited the Republic of Artsakh in 2019 concluded the letter by stating: “Given my strong support for the right to self-determination of all peoples, as upheld under Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and as my experience as an international lawyer, the ongoing detention of Armenian political prisoners remains of grave concern to me. Thus, I request you to provide me with regular updates on Mr Manukyan’s mental and physical health, I request that these updates be sent to me every month so that I can stay informed about his during his trial and time in detention.”
Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director Michael Kolokossian said: “I want to thank Dr Hugh McDermott on behalf of our whole community. Hugh has long been a strong friend and ally of the Armenian-Australian community so it is no surprise to see him stand up against these sham trials, blatantly predicated on ethnic hatred by the Azeri regime.”
Since Azerbaijan’s military offensive and subsequent ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in September 2023, twenty-three Armenian hostages, including eight political leaders of the Republic of Artsakh have been languishing in Azerbaijani prisons, subject to mistreatment and undertaking hunger strikes. International human rights lawyers representing the hostages have repeatedly flagged legal and human rights violations by Azerbaijan’s government.
